Plein Air PainterDorothy (Stott) Clark www.griswoldart.org

Across from St. Mary’s Cemetery on Old Jewett City Road in Lisbon Connecticut

I had a very rough drawing in my sketchbook of this interesting house that I did last fall. I loved the contrast of cool grays against warm fall colors. When the weather cleared along with my flu, I was able to get back to the site. However, it was late February. First, I drew everything out on the watercolor paper. This took hours of work because of “no erasing on fragile handmade paper.” Typically I start painting with the backgrounds. However, I started with the house and all the beautiful values and percentages of gray.Remember I use a limited palette and mix.A gray abstract of all shapes and values was beautifully before me! The 4th time to the spot, the warm sun hit the back of the truck window, my head and when I looked up from the painting, life came to the structure! I then added a 20% wash of Cadmium yellow light to the background behind the house in my painting. After I finished all the grays, I returned to my sketchbook & added the fall colors. Because I keep a sketchbook and draw daily, I can do these paintings. I have a learned skill and do not like tracing, copying or using a photo in my craft...I enjoy the Plein Air of Truck Painting.